ICE Clear US Braces for Leadership Change, Appointing New President

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE), a global operator of exchanges and clearing houses, has announced a change in its leadership at ICE Clear, following the retirement of Thomas Hammond, the acting President of ICE Clear US on January 1, 2017.

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In his stead, ICE Clear will soldier forth under the leadership of Hester Serafini, currently the group’s Chief Operating Officer (COO). Ms. Serafini is slated to step into the role of President following Mr. Hammond’s departure in January, which will see him take on a number of new responsibilities advising on global strategic clearing initiatives.

Mr. Hammond originally joined ICE Clear US as its President back in August 2007 – since then, he has overseen virtually all elements of its operations, including technology, operations, and financial functions at the Clearing House Clearing House A clearing house is defined as an intermediary between two parties, a buyer and seller, which helps facilitate the overall process from trade inception to settlement. Clearing houses streamline the exchange of payments, securities, or derivatives transactions.The clearing house is situated between two clearing firms who also helps reduce the risk of either member firm failing to honor their respective trade settlement obligations.Buyers and sellers enter into legally binding agreements for the e A clearing house is defined as an intermediary between two parties, a buyer and seller, which helps facilitate the overall process from trade inception to settlement. Clearing houses streamline the exchange of payments, securities, or derivatives transactions.The clearing house is situated between two clearing firms who also helps reduce the risk of either member firm failing to honor their respective trade settlement obligations.Buyers and sellers enter into legally binding agreements for the e Read this Term. Before joining ICE however, he worked as the Managing Director of Trading Operations at the Chicago Board of Trade.

Additional roles include stints as the Executive Vice President (EVP) and COO of the Board of Trade Clearing Corporation (BOTCC), among others. Ms. Serafini is a newcomer to ICE, joining the group only in March 2016.

New President

Since then, he has held several important functions with ICE Clear US, including the management of the clearinghouse operations and regulatory changes. Prior to ICE Clear, Ms. Serafini worked at JPMorgan in its over-the-counter (OTC) clearing and intermediation business for credit, foreign exchange (FX) and rates derivatives in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

According to Jeffrey C. Sprecher, ICE Chairman and CEO, in a recent statement on the leadership changes: “As part of the ICE management team, Tom played a key role in driving growth by expanding our clearing operations to become one of the leading global clearing house operators. He brought a deep understanding of clearing, strong industry relationships and tremendous expertise in solving Risk Management Risk Management One of the most common terms utilized by brokers, risk management refers to the practice of identifying potential risks in advance. Most commonly, this also involves the analysis of risk and the undertaking of precautionary steps to both mitigate and prevent for such risk.Such efforts are essential for brokers and venues in the finance industry, given the potential for fallout in the face of unforeseen events or crises. Given a more tightly regulated environment across nearly every asset class, One of the most common terms utilized by brokers, risk management refers to the practice of identifying potential risks in advance. Most commonly, this also involves the analysis of risk and the undertaking of precautionary steps to both mitigate and prevent for such risk.Such efforts are essential for brokers and venues in the finance industry, given the potential for fallout in the face of unforeseen events or crises. Given a more tightly regulated environment across nearly every asset class, Read this Term challenges at a time when clearing’s importance wasn’t fully recognized by our industry.”

“Tom is a true team player and we are grateful for his contributions. And we’re pleased that’s he’s identified a talented clearing leader in Hester, whose operational, risk management and derivatives industry experience will help drive our clearing operations as we enter the next stage of clearing opportunities,” he added.

“As we continue to execute on initiatives around industry topics such as capital efficient risk management, clearing resiliency and regulatory evolution, we remain focused on the needs of our customers and committed to providing the best technology and service in the industry. Tom has helped build ICE Clear U.S. into a premier clearing house and I look forward to working with him over the next few months as we continue to work with our customers, regulators and other market participants to create leading risk management tools for the market,” noted Ms. Serafini in an accompanying statement.